


Brotherhood's Security

by Reibunriinta



Category: Magi: Adventure of Sinbad (Anime), Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Brotherhood, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, They're a Family, bc we all know that he's Ja'far's adoptive bro, just Vittel being a good big bro, so is Mahad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 10:52:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reibunriinta/pseuds/Reibunriinta
Summary: Ja'far is having nightmares about his parents' death, and Vittel comes to comfort him the best he can.





	Brotherhood's Security

Ja’far was used to the nightmares by now, after all an entire year had passed since he’d murdered his own parents. His memories of them hadn’t blurred yet, and so he thought of them nearly every day still. He still hadn’t gone numb to the feeling of blood both figuratively and literally on his hands, and most times he was sure they were there to haunt him. Was his mother watching right now? Was she laughing at how miserable he was without her? He didn’t know enough about who she really was to know how she must be feeling.

Nearly every night he had another nightmare, some of them were strange, abstract, and others were just disjointed memories. This was one of those nights, and Ja’far found himself waking in tears, crying out for his mother only to be met with the twisted reality that came with his waking hours.

Sighing, he wiped the tears from his eyes and looked around. No one seemed to have heard him, despite there being no real insulation to mask his cries. They had echoed throughout the entire place no doubt, however as he had proven himself to be Shaka’s favorite he likely wouldn’t be questioned on it. After all he’d kill the first person who mocked him if it wasn’t Shaka himself.

Drawing in a breath, he stood and stretched before leaving what would pass as his room but was really just the only private spot he was allowed to sleep. He needed to go back to sleep, but if anyone else had been awakened by his cries, they could wait and attack him in his sleep. No, he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all knowing he might not wake up from such a thing.

He’d hoped to be alone, but no sooner had he stepped out of the room than he was faced with his subordinates hopeful face, having just been about to enter apparently. Ja’far scowled, there went his chances of walking around to clear his head or going to train early.

“Are you busy?” Vittel asked in a whisper, not wanting to call attention to the both of them.

“No fuck off.” Ja’far snapped and if he’d had a door he would have slammed it in the other’s face, he didn’t have a door however so he settled for giving an indignant huff and going back to sit on his blanket.

Vittel sighed and came into the room, sitting down across from his companion. “Are you alright? I heard screaming…”

“Yeah. I’m fucking peachy. Will you go away now?”

He frowned. “Did you have another nightmare?”

Ja’far hesitated a moment and then nodded, not trusting himself to speak as he tried to distract himself by running his fingers over the patterns on his knives.

“...Was it about your mom?” Vittel asked hesitantly, tensing up as though expecting to be attacked for even asking.

Ja’far looked up and tried to deny it, but instead he just started crying. Ashamed then, he hid his face in his hands and sobbed quietly. After all, crying was a sign of weakness, hell Shaka had tortured the last assassin he’d caught crying. For him, the most capable assassin ever, to be seen reduced to a sniffling mess over his mother of all people was unacceptable wasn’t it?

To his surprise Vittel didn’t seem angry or accusatory about this, in fact he seemed sad for some reason. “Awe shit..don’t cry chief it’s okay!”

“It’s not okay!” Ja’far snapped, looking around at them in anger. “A year ago I had a fucking family and I wasn’t...I wasn’t like this...I don’t even care if they kill me I’m gonna say it, I hate living like this and I just want something better!”

Letting out a laugh amidst his sobs, he joked weakly. “We can’t even afford water!”

Vittel chuckled quietly. “Yeah well...it’s not like it just falls from the sky.” Sighing then, he came closer and rested a hand on the younger boy’s shoulder.  “Listen chief, I can’t say I know how you feel right now...hell I hate this place as much as you do but...well we have each other. Me, you, and Mahad are a team you know? We can be miserable together until we’re not miserable anymore and maybe someday we could even get out of—”

“You won’t finish that if you want to survive.” Ja’far interrupted, an edge in his voice. “That’s what Jahduh said too.”

Vittel swallowed nervously and nodded. “Okay, forget that last part, the point is we’ll help each other and be okay.”

Ja’far nodded, and let out a yawn as he wiped away the last of his tears. He would never admit it, but Vittel was right. Ever since he’d stopped Shaka from exterminating Vittel and Mahad, who had been nothing more than failed experiments, he’d felt a little more secure. He wasn’t sure why he’d saved them exactly, was it because he hadn’t wanted them killed, or was it his own selfish desire to not be so lonely? Either way, he felt somehow that unlike the others, these two would truly protect him, that they wouldn’t murder him in his sleep, and they were the only people he could quite trust in that respect.

“Tired?” Vittel asked softly.

He nodded, yawning again. “Doesn’t matter...everyone heard me I can’t sleep.”

Vittel shook his head. “You sleep, I’ll stand guard.”

Before he could object, Vittel made his way back to the doorway and sat down, keeping his eyes on their surroundings.

Ja’far couldn’t help but trust Vittel’s senses in that moment, as his fatigue had completely caught up with him. And so, making a mental note to hunt extra snakes for Vittel and Mahad in the morning, he curled up with his blanket and went back to sleep.


End file.
